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50 Essential Summer Festivals

Listen to Beethoven’s Ninth at the foot of the Grand Tetons. Take in “Macbeth,” set in Ethiopia. Or see what Skrillex can concoct at the site of Woodstock. The coming season offers inspired contradictions, premieres and crowd-pleasing favorites.Related Article

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Julian Cassady for Mysteryland USA

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Pop

By STACEY ANDERSON

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McCoy Tyner, who will perform as part of the SummerStage festival.
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John Abbott

City Parks Foundation’s Summerstage

Through Sept. 23, New York

To New York’s harried, huddled working masses, summer may seem shorter with each passing year. This year, the beloved SummerStage festival does its best to combat the feeling: Its programming extends a few weeks longer than last year’s, delivering 100 free performances in Central Park and other al fresco locations. Jazz dominates the docket: McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter and Roy Haynes jam in Central Park, and the trumpet virtuoso Terence Blanchard swings by Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island to perform “Breathless,” a new eulogy for Eric Garner. Rock, hip-hop and dance fans are not slighted: Chairlift, Public Enemy and Blonde Redhead also come through.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings at the Apollo Theater in 2014.
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Karsten Moran for The New York Times

BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn Festival

June 8 to Aug. 13, Prospect Park Bandshell

Prospect Park is never more inviting than when provided a soundtrack by this mostly free arts series, a seasonal staple now in its 38th year. Two of Brooklyn’s calling cards, left-of-center live music and eclectic food, enjoy a strong emphasis at these seated concerts, which cover pop, hip-hop, jazz, world and folk. The Motown-worthy soul charmers Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings open this season — a wise move, considering this group’s barn-burning performance at the Bandshell in 2010. Other noteworthy artists include the Senegalese singer-instrumentalist Baaba Maal, the jazz singer Gregory Porter and the Australian band Tame Impala.

Skrillex at the Brooklyn Bowl in 2014.
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Chad Batka for The New York Times

Mysteryland USA

June 10 to 13, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, N.Y.

Two years ago, this electronic music festival made a decisively splashy debut at Bethel Woods, the site of the Woodstock festival in 1969. Despite some classic-rock purists thumbing their noses at an electronic-heavy lineup at their mecca, Mysteryland is becoming its own successful, peaceable tradition. This year’s lineup carefully crosses all subgenres of dance music, culling both fast-ascending young talent like the Chainsmokers, Odesza and Penguin Prison and veterans at the top of the electronic food chain like Claude VonStroke, Skrillex and John Digweed. A comedy stage featuring the “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kyle Mooney should ease any bass-induced overload.

Florence Welch at the Governors Ball in 2015.
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Krista Schlueter for The New York Times

Firefly

June 16 to 19, The Woodlands of Dover, Del.

This savvy festival has a knack for solving the problems that mar many outdoor music events; it was one of the first to offer late-night “silent disco” headphone parties and on-site hammocks, years before both became de rigueur at festivals. Firefly’s other perks include a farmers’ market, vintage arcade games, a craft beer bar and a coffee shop. Florence & the Machine, Kings of Leon, Mumford & Sons, Deadmau5 and Two Door Cinema Club top the roster.

Bill Nershi of the String Cheese Incident at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2014.
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Barry Brecheisen/Invision, via Associated Press

Electric Forest

June 23 to 26, Rothbury, Mich.

Electronic and jam-band devotees flock to this secluded grove for talent, blinding pyrotechnic displays and regional food. Proximity to the quirky Gold Rush Water Park also offers a reprieve from sizzling with the other beat worshipers. (An on-site shuttle is available.) Last year, Skrillex and Kaskade appeared, and new stages were introduced; this summer, momentum continues when the noodling rockers of the String Cheese Incident return alongside Major Lazer and the Disco Biscuits.

Kanye West at the Pan-Am Games in Toronto in 2015.
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Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Governors Ball

June 3 to 5, Randalls Island, New York

This nobly named outing has enjoyed an uninterrupted five years as New York’s top destination festival. Now that a new challenger is coming for its crown (see Panorama Festival below), organizers are fighting to keep their event in heaviest rotation. This year’s lineup calls back two hit headliners from recent seasons, Kanye West and the Strokes, and pairs them with a diverse Top 50 crop that includes Beck, the Killers and Robyn. Dance and soul ekes ahead as this year’s best bookings: M83, Jamie xx and Miguel all shine in festival environs. They may just pop by the newly opened mini-golf course for a quick putt.

Kehlani at the Fader Fort during SXSW in Austin, Tex., in 2015.
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Ben Sklar for The New York Times

Roots Picnic

June 4, Festival Pier, Philadelphia

The ubiquitous Roots trade in their exceptional agility as collaborators, whether they’re jamming side-stage to Jimmy Fallon as the house band of “The Tonight Show” or doling out neo-soul albums with John Legend and Elvis Costello. The band’s effusive energy and bountiful musical knowledge are best experienced live and should be apparent when it backs Usher at the ninth annual Roots Picnic, a three-stage soiree held in its hometown. Other acts on the well-honed, R&B- and hip-hop-inclined lineup include Future, Blood Orange, Kehlani and Leon Bridges.

Chris Stapleton at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, Calif.
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Rozette Rago for The New York Times

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival

June 9 to 12, Manchester, Tenn.

Though its name is now synonymous with peacenik bohemians, this sprawling arts and culture showcase is run with the precision of a small country, so, improbably, its average 100,000 attendees find the final day to be as orderly and well-manicured as the first. The freewheeling festival still nods to its roots-rock origins — the lineup includes Dead & Company, a band consisting of several former members of the Grateful Dead — but there are some glossier edges, with Pearl Jam, LCD Soundsystem, Miguel, Chris Stapleton and Halsey.

Camille Berthomier of Savages during their set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April.
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Matt Cowan/Getty Images for Coachella

Pitchfork Music Festival

Union Park, Chicago, July 15 to 17

Readers of the music website Pitchfork have seen plenty of praise for Sufjan Stevens, Brian Wilson, Carly Rae Jepsen and Blood Orange. Now these fans can sizzle alongside those stellar artists at its annual festival, an unpretentious affair that always yields a bumper crop of great performances (and, unlike much of its competition, scores of female artists). This season, in a pop coup, Mr. Wilson performs the Beach Boys’ opus “Pet Sounds” in full; other superb bookings include Savages, Julia Holter, Beach House, Moses Sumney and Digable Planets.

Sia performing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., in April.
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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Panorama Festival

Randalls Island, New York, July 22 to 24

This new attraction is riding into town with deep coffers and raised fists. It’s backed by Goldenvoice, the company behind the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and has a powerhouse Top 40 lineup to rival it: The headliners are LCD Soundsystem, Kendrick Lamar and Arcade Fire, with support from Alabama Shakes, Sia, the National, FKA twigs and more. When this event was first announced in 2015, its main competitor, Governors Ball, filed a public petition to force the company to reschedule its summer dates; that failed, and now Panorama is staging its inaugural weekend on Randalls Island, the same site as Governors Ball. Good business or good spite?

LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy at Webster Hall in April.
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Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times

Lollapalooza

Grant Park, Chicago, July 28 to 31

Twenty-five years ago, this behemoth festival started as a modest joint tour of scrappy young rock bands — the same groups that would soon be championed as the leaders of the budding “alternative rock” scene. The creator Perry Farrell’s group, Jane’s Addiction, continues to ride the event’s success; so does Chicago, which hosts the flagship festival each year. Now international offshoots are held in cities including Berlin, Santiago and Buenos Aires; the Midwestern anchor remains the most elaborate, and this year’s bill features Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, Ellie Goulding, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Future, Grimes and, of course, Jane’s Addiction.

Christian McBride, center, performing with his band at Lincoln Center in February.
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Jacob Blickenstaff for The New York Times

Newport Jazz Festival

July 29 to 31, Fort Adams State Park and Newport Casino, Rhode Island

The Newport Jazz Festival has cast a long shadow since 1954, when it debuted under the firm hand of its original organizer, the promoter George Wein. (Mr. Wein also co-founded the Newport Folk Festival with Pete Seeger; it returns this year, also at Fort Adams, July 22 to 24). This year, the celebrated pianist Chick Corea celebrates his 75th birthday in a collaborative set with the bop great Christian McBride (who also serves as the artistic director of the festival). Other sizable talents include Gregory Porter, Donny McCaslin, Angélique Kidjo and Norah Jones.

Eric Church performing at the Stagecoach festival in Indio, Calif., in April.
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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

WE Fest

Aug. 4 to 6, Detroit Lakes, Minn.

One of the largest country music celebrations in the country, WE Fest can still be overshadowed nationally because of its location and family-friendly ambience. But those same factors have helped this event remain relatively unchanged in its 34 years. This year, the Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler performs his new country persona alongside Eric Church, Tim McGraw, Kid Rock and Lee Brice. Women are underrepresented on this year’s bill; only Amanda Watkins received prominent mention on the event’s website. Someone should sing about that.

Cécile McLorin Salvant at the Jazz Standard in New York City in 2015.
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Ebru Yildiz for The New York Times

San Jose Summer Fest

Aug. 12 to 14, San Jose, Calif.

Silicon Valley’s jazz offerings grow sharper every year, as illustrated by this 12-stage demonstration throughout downtown San Jose. (The grandest of them, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, gives even the most casual of jams a stately air.) This year, the festival folds in avant-garde and traditional strains of jazz, as well as salsa, R&B, blues and other complementary genres; headliners include Cécile McLorin Salvant, Galactic and Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers. This city’s tech base ensures plenty of interesting musical innovations to discover on the sidelines.

Killer Mike, left, and El-P, right, of Run the Jewels, with Zack de la Rocha at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., in April.
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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Bumbershoot

Sept. 2 to 4, Seattle Center, Seattle

This showcase, which borrows its name from a British slang term for umbrella, is certainly protective of its local talent; two of the three headliners, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Death Cab for Cutie, hail from the region. (The third, the house D.J. and producer Kygo, will trek over from Norway.) Bumbershoot has been a favorite for both Pacific Northwest audiophiles and intrepid travelers for years thanks to its amiable atmosphere and top-notch natural acoustics. This year, it continues to champion dance, hip-hop and rock with Run the Jewels, Fetty Wap, Andrew Bird, Halsey and Billy Idol.

The soprano Julia Bullock at Merkin Hall.
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Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Ojai Festival

June 9 to 12, Ojai, Calif.

Peter Sellars, who directs the festival this summer, was inspired by the spiritual traditions of the Ojai Valley when creating this rich 70th anniversary lineup, which is also a tribute to female artists. The superb young soprano Julia Bullock sings the title role in a new chamber version of Kaija Saariaho’s “La Passion de Simone,” an oratorio about the life of the French feminist philosopher Simone Weil. Ms. Bullock also offers a homage to Josephine Baker with the International Contemporary Ensemble. Other highlights include the South Indian vocalist Aruna Sairam and the Cairo-based singer Dina El Wedidi and her band. The imaginative a cappella vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth offers Caroline Shaw’s remarkable “Partita for Eight Voices,” alongside a new work by Ms. Shaw. (A week later, “La Passion de Simone,” the Josephine Baker portrait and the concert by Ms. El Wedidi will be repeated during Ojai at Berkeley.)

Marin Alsop, who is stepping down as music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
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Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

July 31 to Aug. 13, Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista, Calif.

The conductor Marin Alsop, a dynamic champion of contemporary music, will conclude her 25-year stint at the helm of this new music mecca. There are several premieres this summer, including a symphonic ballet by the gifted young British composer Anna Clyne, featuring the Hysterica Dance Company. Ms. Alsop will conduct John Adams’s “Lola Montez Does the Spider Dance.” The lineup also includes works by John Corigliano; Jennifer Higdon; Kevin Puts; Christopher Rouse; James MacMillan; and Osvaldo Golijov, whose “Oceana” — which sets texts by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda to a Bach-inspired score for a large chorus — closes the festival alongside Mr. Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, a memorial to friends who died of AIDS.

So Percussion performing at the Big Ears music festival in Knoxville, Tenn. The ensemble will be part of a three-concert tribute to Steve Reich at the Lincoln Center Festival in July.
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Mike Belleme for The New York Times

Lincoln Center Festival

July 13 to 31, Lincoln Center, New York City

Fans of Steve Reich’s entrancing, kaleidoscopic music are in for a treat with a three-concert tribute that features some of his most alluring works, performed by stellar ensembles including So Percussion, Ensemble Signal and the JACK Quartet. The Reich bonanza concludes with his masterpiece “Music for 18 Musicians.” Also on the lineup is “Paradise Interrupted,” a one-act, multimedia opera by the Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo, whose haunting score blends elements of Western and Chinese traditions to alluring effect. And an intriguing program of improvised meditations will highlight the sheng, an ancient Chinese instrument, and the jew’s harp.

Spoleto celebrates its 40th anniversary with an eclectic lineup that features an obscure baroque opera, Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” and a work by the avant-garde German composer Helmut Lachenmann. The period-instrument ensemble Amarillis performs “La Double Coquette” by the 18th-century composer Antoine Dauvergne and David Herskovits directs a new staging of “Porgy.” Mark Down and Phelim McDermott will direct a new production of Mr. Lachenmann’s haunting, strange “Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern” (“The Little Match Girl”). Chamber music fans will enjoy a vigorous lineup of works by Bach, Handel, Osvaldo Golijov and Sean Shepherd performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet (in residence at the festival this summer), the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, the clarinetist Todd Palmer and the cellist Alisa Weilerstein.

James Levine, center, giving his final bow at a performance in May at the Metropolitan Opera, where he served as music director for four decades.
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Richard Termine/Metropolitan Opera

Ravinia Festival

June 2 to Sept. 17, Highland Park, Ill.

For 80 years, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has decamped each summer to Ravinia. This festival’s richly varied lineup includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 led by James Levine, celebrating the 45th anniversary of his festival debut. There’s a new staging of Stravinsky’s “Firebird” by the remarkable team that created the puppets for the play “War Horse.” The centennial of the choral director Robert Shaw will be honored with Rachmaninoff’s “Vespers” and a program by the a cappella ensemble Chanticleer. On the contemporary lineup are Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto (performed by Nicola Benedetti) and Tan Dun’s “Water Passion after St. Matthew.” Other highlights include the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma, a Schumann recital by the baritone Matthias Goerne and Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor with Daniil Trifonov as soloist.

The composer Steven Stucky, who died in February at 66, curated Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music (July 21 to 25), which is now dedicated to his memory. It is one part of the larger festival. Mr. Stucky, admired for his richly-scored compositions, programmed composers with a broad coloristic palette such as Lutoslawski, Magnus Lindberg, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Sebastian Currier. The alluring lineup concludes with the premiere of George Benjamin’s “Dream of the Song” for countertenor, women’s choir and orchestra and Messiaen’s dazzling “Turangalîla-Symphonie.” There are also many treats on Tanglewood’s main stage, host to a starry roster of visiting soloists. Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in excerpts from “Aida,” with Kristine Opolais in the title role, as well as music by Beethoven, Mahler, Berlioz and John Corigliano. And the Tanglewood Music Center offers an unusual pairing: a semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins” and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14.

Sean Panikkar in a 2015 production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” He plays the title role in "Shalimar the Clown," by Jack Perla and Rajiv Joseph.
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Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival

Opera Theater of St. Louis

Through June 26, St. Louis, Miss.

Salman Rushdie’s 2005 novel “Shalimar the Clown” — a story of love, betrayal, cross-cultural relationships and religious fundamentalism set in London, Los Angeles and the Kashmir region — inspired Jack Perla’s opera of the same name. “Shalimar,” featuring a score that incorporates tabla drums and sitar set to a libretto by Rajiv Joseph (who wrote the play “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”) receives its premiere this summer in a production directed by James Robinson. It features the tenor Sean Panikkar in the title role. The lineup also includes Verdi’s “Macbeth,”Strauss’s “Ariadne auf Naxos” and Puccini’s “La Bohème.” All operas are performed in English and accompanied by members of the St. Louis Symphony; audience members can mingle with the casts after shows.

The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, performing David Lang’s “Crowd Out.” His “Public Domain” will be performed by volunteer singers at Mostly Mozart.
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Robert Day

Mostly Mozart Festival

July 22 to Aug. 27, New York

David Lang’s “Public Domain” could be subtitled “Chorus of a Thousand,” since that number of volunteer singers will perform this gigantic work, which was commissioned for the festival’s 50th anniversary (along with 50 small-scale instrumental works that will receive their premieres by the International Contemporary Ensemble). Mozart will be feted with performances of the operas “Così Fan Tutte” and “Idomeneo” by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and a staging by the director Netia Jones called “The Illuminated Heart” that features excerpts from Mozart operas. Louis Langrée conducts the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in Mozart’s Mass in C minor and “Requiem.” Musicians including the harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani will serenade listeners in the festival’s late-night candlelit “Little Night Music” series.

Leon Botstein during a rehearsal at Bard College in 2015.
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Fred R. Conrad for The New York Times

Bard Music Festival and Bard Summerscape

July 1 to Aug. 14, Annandale-on-Hudson

Every year in the silver-roofed Fisher Center, Leon Botstein, the American Symphony Orchestra and visiting scholars and musicians focus on one composer, highlighting well-known and obscure works in the context of contemporary artists of the time. This year the spotlight is on Puccini, with semi-staged or concert performances of “Il Tabarro” and “Le Villi” and excerpts from “Manon Lescaut.” The final act of “Turandot” will be juxtaposed with Busoni’s little known version of the same story. The lineup also includes Massenet’s “La Navarraise” and excerpts from Boito’s “Nerone” and Catalani’s “Loreley.” Another rarity, Mascagni’s “Iris” — the tale of a young girl abducted and forced into prostitution in Tokyo — receives a fully staged production directed by James Darrah, with Talise Trevigne in the title role.

Donald Runnicles at the Grand Teton Music Festival in 2015.
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Michelle McCarron

Grand Teton Music Festival

July 4 to Aug. 20, Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Donald Runnicles celebrates his 10-year anniversary as artistic director of this festival at the foothills of the Teton mountain range in grand style, conducting the National Collegiate Chorale of Scotland in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The program also features the premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’s mountain-inspired fanfare for winds, brass and percussion. Other highlights include Colin Currie performing Christopher Rouse’s percussion concerto “Der Gerettete Alberich,” the pianist Jonathan Biss in a series of Beethoven concerts, and performances by the violinists Joshua Bell and Nicola Benedetti and the cellist Johannes Moser.

Martyna Majok, whose play “The Cost of Living” will get a world premiere at the Williamstown Theater Festival.
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Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Berkshires

Various sites and dates

A reliable sign of summer is the reawakening of culture-rich Western Massachusetts, strewn with seasonal favorites like The Williamstown Theater Festival (June 28-Aug. 21), where an impressive company will tackle “The Rose Tattoo,”“An American Daughter” and the world premiere of Martyna Majok’s “The Cost of Living,” among others. Berkshire Theater Group (through Oct. 23) features “Little Shop of Horrors” and more, plus comedy and music events (yay, The Skivvies!). At Barrington Stage, John Rando and Joshua Bergasse will team up again (their recent Broadway revival of “On the Town” started there) on “The Pirates of Penzance”; also check out Shakespeare & Company, in Lenox (May 27-Sept. 11) and the Chester Theater Company (June 29-Aug. 28).

From left, Birgit Huppuch, Layla Khoshnoudi, Becca Blackwell, Donnetta Lavinia Grays (front) and Danaya Esperanza in “Men on Boats,” which returns from last year's Clubbed Thumb Summerworks in a co-production with Playwrights Horizons.
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Richard Termine for The New York Times

Clubbed Thumb Summerworks

May 27 to July 9, New York City

This Obie-award winning company continues its tradition of three new plays every summer, starting with “Every Angel is Brutal,” by Julia Jarcho, a black comedy about three young coeds recruited by the government to work undercover in Berlin. “The Tomb of King Tot,” by Eric Dufault, and “Tumacho,” by Ethan Lipton, will follow. Also: “Men on Boats,” produced in last year’s Summerworks series, returns in a coproduction with Playwrights Horizons (July 19-Aug. 14).

The playwright Ronan Noone in 2008.
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Robert Wright for The New York Times

Contemporary American Theater Festival

July 8 to 31, Shepherdstown, W.Va.

We briefly see Cathleen, the “second girl,” in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” but only hear about the other servant, Bridget. The playwright Ronan Noone thrusts these characters into the spotlight as he looks at issues surrounding the immigrant experience in “The Second Girl,” one of five new plays planned at this intriguing festival.

The director Lee Sunday Evans (“A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes”) has cast only female actors in her “Macbeth” — and just three of them — for an adaptation that focuses on witches in the Scottish tragedy. The season planned for this gorgeous venue at Boscobel House and Gardens, overlooking the Hudson River, also includes “Measure for Measure,”“As You Like It” and a free production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.”

There were daily lines at the Traverse Theater last summer, as theatergoers awaited cancellations, hoping to see “Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour,” one of the most popular shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The musical play, following a group of Catholic schoolgirls on one very raucous day, was adapted by Lee Hall from the novel “The Sopranos,” by Alan Warner. This National Theater of Scotlandproduction is but one highlight of the festival, which makes good on the “ideas” part of its name, too, offering lectures and discussions on topics like “No Minimum Age: Youth Activism and Social Change” and “Taking Ownership: Music and Intellectual Property in the Digital Age.”

Twenty “tiny” plays about life in Ireland, submitted by Irish citizens and chosen by Fishamble: The New Play Company, will be presented along with a half-dozen short American plays about John F. Kennedy in this collaboration. “Tiny Plays for Ireland and America” is one of several theater offerings in this Kennedy Center festival celebrating Irish culture 100 years after the 1916 Easter Rising. Among the other Ireland 100 offerings is the Irish actress Olwen Fouéré’s“riverrun,” a solo work adapted from part of “Finnegans Wake” (well-received at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014). Erin go Bragh!

“Forest Boy,” about a young man who suddenly appeared in Berlin claiming he’d been living in the forest for five years (it was a hoax), and “Nickel Mines,” about the 2006 Amish schoolhouse shooting in the titular Pennsylvania town, are among the many new musicals featured. The festival has been the launching pad for Broadway and Off Broadway shows including “Yank!”; “[title of show]”; and “Feeling Electric,” later retitled “Next to Normal.”

The playwright Qui Nguyen is a founder of the wild-at-heart New York theater company Vampire Cowboys, known for creating imaginative plays with slick fight choreography. His latest play, “Vietgone,” inspired by his parents’ experience escaping Saigon in 1975 (yes, it includes fight scenes), is one of 11 productions this season in Ashland, following its premiere at South Coast Repertory. The festival has long been respected for its Shakespeare productions, and there are plenty of those, too, including “Twelfth Night” and “Hamlet.”

Founded in 1992 by a priest — the Rev. Gerard J. Schubert, the chair of the performing and fine arts department at DeSales University, who died in December — this festival on the DeSales campus has a lot planned for a nine-week season. “West Side Story,”“Julius Caesar,” “Blithe Spirit” and “The Taming of the Shrew” are among the productions, and there’s even a “Shakespeare for Kids” show geared toward your 4- to 10-year-old Bardophile in the making.

“Transfers,” by Lucy Thurber (“The Hill Town Plays”), about two young Bronx men trying to get into an elite college, is one of two main stage productions at this annual collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College, dedicated to new work. In addition to the other main stage show, Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves,” workshops and readings are planned of new works by several writers, but those of us eager to see “Head Over Heels,” with music by the Go-Go’s, must wait: The new musical, with a book by Jeff Whitty and directed by Michael Mayer, will be in residency but not presented to the public; for now, their lips are sealed.

Summer in the city can be sweltering (and smelly), but it comes with at least one joy — outdoor Shakespeare performances in various venues. The Public Theater’s Delacorte season will feature Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female “The Taming of the Shrew” (May 24-June 26) and “Troilus and Cressida” (July 19-Aug. 14), and Classical Theater of Harlem will stage an adaptation of “Macbeth,” set in Ethiopia during the reign of Haile Selassie, in Marcus Garvey Park (July 8-31). Also coming up: New York Classical Theater’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (May 31-July 17) and “The Winter’s Tale” (July 18-Aug. 14); Inwood Shakespeare’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (June 8-25); and several shows by the Drilling Company, performing in both a Lower East Side parking lot and in Bryant Park.

The celebration of Shakespeare 400 continues apace in Chicago, arguably the city that has embraced the occasion more than any other. “The Merchant of Venice,” a production of Shakespeare’s Globe in London with Jonathan Pryce as Shylock, will make a stop at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Aug. 4-14) after appearing in New York at the Lincoln Center Festival (July 20-24). Other events include “Tug of War: Foreign Fire” (through June 12), the first in a two-play adaptation of six of Shakespeare’s history plays, created and directed by Barbara Gaines, also at Chicago Shakespeare (the second play will run in the fall), and the ongoing “Culinary Complete Works,” involving chefs who have used a particular play as inspiration. For example, at Phillip Foss’s EL Ideas, you can try a concoction of French fries and vanilla ice cream inspired by the witches’ caldron in “Macbeth.” Yum.

These two large repertory theaters run by our Canadian neighbors have packed seasons underway. At Stratford, see the stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning film “Shakespeare in Love,” a revival of “A Chorus Line” that dares to use new choreography and “Breath of Kings,” conceived and adapted by Graham Abbey from Shakespeare’s “Henriad” history cycle (“Richard II,” “Henry IV Part 1,” “Henry IV Part 2” and “Henry V”). East of Stratford, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, stands the Shaw Festival, where “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” by the festival’s inspiration, George Bernard Shaw, is running alongside productions of “Our Town,”“Uncle Vanya,”“Sweeney Todd” and others.

Shakespeare at the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theater is a summer tradition in San Diego, and soon audiences can see “Macbeth” (June 19-July 24), directed by Brian Kulick, and Kathleen Marshall’s production of “Love’s Labor’s Lost” (Aug. 14-Sept. 18). Joining forces with the San Diego Public Library, the Old Globe will host the California stop on the tour “First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare,” and while the book is on display (June 4-July 7) the organizations have put together some surrounding events. Also at the Old Globe, Steve Martin’s new play, “Meteor Shower,” directed by Gordon Edelstein (July 30-Sept. 4).

The Brick Theater in Williamsburg has long been known for imaginative festivals, and this series highlighting the stories and talents of transgender artists is certainly of the moment. Bea Cordelia’s autobiographical solo show, “Chasing Blue,” looks interesting: Set in her bathroom as she prepares for a date only a short time after coming out as transgender, the piece explores her journey toward a new self. Among the other shows is “Radclyffe: The Completely Honest and Mostly True Story of Victorian England’s Second Most Notorious Invert,” written, performed and directed by Kestryl Cael Lowrey, about the British author of “The Well of Loneliness,” written in 1928 and banned because of its lesbian love story.

Raja Kelly of Reggie Wilson’s Fist and Heel Performance Group, which will perform at The Yard.
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Aitor Mendilibar

The Yard

May 27 to Sept. 3, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

The Vineyard is having a dance renaissance thanks to David R. White, who has revitalized this island festival in his five years as artistic director. This year’s offerings include solos from the ever-evolving duo Eiko and Koma; a panoply of percussive dance by some of the country’s leading tappers; the West African-rooted movement of Reggie Wilson’s Fist and Heel Performance Group; and a work in progress from the foraging minds of Big Dance Theater.

If you stumble into a public performance on Wall Street or Governors Island in June, the reason is probably River to River. This free festival pairs adventurous artists with sites around Lower Manhattan, from nondescript sidewalks to landmarks like Federal Hall. The roster this year includes Will Rawls at the National Museum of the American Indian; the hip-hop dancer Ephrat Asherie (with her brother Ehud Asherie, a composer) at 33 Maiden Lane; and the return of Eiko’s migratory solo project, “A Body in Places.”

While many dancers flock to this modern-dance mecca for its highly regarded school, there’s as much happening onstage as there is in the studio. The 83rd season includes world premieres by John Jasperse, Bill T. Jones and, for the festival’s students, Beth Gill. The Stephen Petronio Company brings Trisha Brown’s sublime “Glacial Decoy,” and the peerless tapper Savion Glover joins forces with the jazz drummer Jack DeJonnette.

Joaquin de Luz, left, and Maria Kowroski of City Ballet in Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2010. City Ballet will perform it at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Credit
Paul Kolnik

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

June 17 to July 30, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

This upstate getaway, originally designed as New York City Ballet’s summer home (George Balanchine had some architectural input) is turning 50. City Ballet will be in the house July 20-30, with Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and a new work by the troupe’s inventive resident artist, Justin Peck. Also passing through the amphitheater will be Doug Varone and Dancers (June 17); a premiere by Twyla Tharp (June 30); and, after a June run at Lincoln Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (July 8-9).

It has been three years since this Berkshires institution presented “Restless Creature,” in which the ballerina Wendy Whelan, preparing to retire from New York City Ballet, commissioned four duets by four contemporary choreographers. One of those artists, Brian Brooks, has proved a lasting collaborator, and the two are teaming up again with “Some of a Thousand Words,” a new suite of solos and duets. The program goes to the Pillow (July 27-31) by way of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven. It should be a highlight of the bustling 10-week season, which also features the shape-shifting street dancers of “FLEXN”; the thoroughly modern ballets of Pam Tanowitz; and the introduction of a new artistic director, Pamela Tatge.

It’s not exactly a dance festival, but Elastic City’s seventh and final season should be full of kinetic curiosities. Embracing transience, the organization, which facilitates artist-led participatory walks throughout the city, is closing up shop. Six guides, including the choreographers Okwui Okpokwasili and Anna Azrieli, will take participants through urban spaces, drawing attention to what generally goes unnoticed.

“Mozart Dances,” performed by the Mark Morris Dance Group in 2006.
Credit
Stephanie Berger

Lincoln Center

July 23 to Aug. 27

Between the Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors and the Mostly Mozart Festival, there’s no shortage of dance at Lincoln Center this summer. The Out of Doors programming, free as always, includes a demo and performance by Dance Theater of Harlem (part of Family Day, July 23); an array of local talent in “Global Beat of the Bronx” (July 24); Maurice Hines’s “Tappin’ Thru Life” (July 28); and Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca (Aug. 3). As part of the Lincoln Center Festival, National Ballet of Canada offers Christopher Wheeldon’s “The Winter’s Tale” (July 28-31), and for Mostly Mozart’s 50th anniversary, Mark Morris revives his celebrated “Mozart Dances” (Aug. 24-27).

The altitude may hinder breathing, but that doesn’t deter the dancers who frequent this festival. This year’s cohort includes Ballet X, from Philadelphia; Dorrance Dance, led by the MacArthur Award-winning tapper Michelle Dorrance; and the American Ballet Theater principal Isabella Boylston. Damian Woetzel, celebrating 10 years as the artistic director, plans to commission at least 10 new works, while bringing back tried and true programs like “Ballroom Spectacular.”

August brings a flood of dancing to downtown Chicago, where this free festival has been going strong for a decade. The 10th edition keeps hometown favorites intact — Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet — while introducing less familiar faces like Joshua Beamish and the duo Silas Riener and Rashaun Mitchell, who will appear on an inaugural “Modern Men” program. Rennie Harris’s “Students of the Asphalt Jungle” returns by popular demand, along with the handpicked talent of Stars of American Ballet.

A listing last Sunday of 50 summer festivals of music, dance and theater misstated the ending date of the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Ill. It closes Sept. 17, not Sept. 11. The listing also misstated the ending date of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center festival. It closes July 30, not July 3.